Chapter 5 Semantics 语义学 语言学教程 胡壮麟

1、Chapter 5: Meaning Definitions of Semantics nSemantics can be simply defined as the study of meaning. (Dai thus smoke is an index of fire. nThe majority of traffic signs are Index signs as they represent information which relates to a location (eg, a slippery road surface sign placed on a road which

2、 is prone to flooding) nA symbol has no logical meaning between it and the object. There is only a conventional link between the sign and its signified, as in the use of insignia (徽徽 章章) to denote military ranks, or perhaps the way that mourning is symbolized by the wearing of black clothes in some

3、cultures, and white clothes in others. Flags are also good examples of symbols which represent countries or organisations. nQuestion: Which kind are words? n1. The naming theory nGreek scholar Plato nThe linguistic form or symbols, in other words, the words used in a language are simply labels of th

4、e objects they stand for. So words are just names or labels for things. nReference (referential theory): nThe theory of meaning which relates the meaning of a word to the thing it refers to, or stand for, is known as the referential theory. nReference is the relation by which a word picks out or ide

5、ntifies an entity in the world. nWords are but symbols, many of which have meaning only when they have acquired reference. Reference is the relationship between language and the world. n“By means of reference, a speaker indicates which things in the world (including persons) are being talked about.”

6、(Hurford and Heasley 1983:25) nOnly when a connection has been established between the linguistic sign and a referent, i.e. an object, a phenomenon, a person, etc. does the sign become meaningful. nProblems: n1) Some words are meaningful, but they identify no entities in the real world, such as the

7、words dragon, phoenix, unicorn, mermaid, ghost, and, or, hard, slowly, think, etc. n2) It is not possible for some words to find referents in the world, such as the words but, and, of, however, the, etc. n3) Speakers of English understand the meaning of a round triangle although there is no such gra

8、ph. n2. The conceptualist view nThis view relates words and things through the mediation of concepts of the mind. nWhen we explain the meaning of desk by pointing to the thing it refers to, we do not mean a desk must be of the particular size, color and material as the desk we are pointing to. There

9、 is something behind the concrete thing we can see. This is abstract, which has no existence in the material world and can only be sensed in our minds. nIt holds that there is no direct link between a linguistic form and what it refers to; rather, in the interpretation of meaning they are linked thr

10、ough the mediation of concepts in the mind. This is best illustrated by the semantic triangle or triangle of significance suggested by Ogden and Richards in The Meaning of Meaning (1923). nThey argue that the relation between a word and a thing it refers to is not direct. It is mediated by concept.

11、In a diagram form, the relation is represented as follows: nSemantic triangle n concept (meaning) nsymbol/word referent/thing (sound and spelling) nConcept, which is beyond language, is the result of human cognition, reflecting the objective world in the human mind. It is universal to all men alike

12、regardless of culture, race, language and so on whereas meaning belongs to language, so is restricted to language use. nA concept can have as many referring expressions as there are languages in the world. Even in the same language, the same concept can be expressed in different words. nEg. Much, ma

13、ny the same concept nCollocation: different nMuch time, much money, much water nMany people, many books, many buildings nSynonymous pairs are good examples. nSense (concept): nSense refers to the properties an entity has. In this sense, it is equivalent to “concept”. nSense is the relation by which

14、words stand in human mind. It is mental representation, the association with something in the speakers or hearers mind. The difference between sense and reference: n1) Sense refers to the abstract properties of an entity, while reference refers to the concrete entities having these properties. n2) T

15、o some extent, we can say that every word has a sense, but not every word has a reference. nThus it is reasonable for us to suggest that we should study meaning in terms of sense rather than reference. nFor example: desk n1) by using an object or picture n2) a piece of furniture with a flat top and

16、four legs, at which one reads and writes n3) a kind of table, which has drawers n4) 书桌书桌 nThe first method is the referential theory by directly pointing to the thing it refers to, while the last three methods are indirect by resorting to the concept of desk. 3. Contextualism nRepresentatively propo

17、sed by the British linguist J. R. Firth who had been influenced by the Polish anthropologist Malinowski and the German philosopher Wittgenstein. nThis tendency attempts to base meaning on context. nIt holds that meaning should be studied in terms of situation, use, context elements closely linked wi

18、th language behavior. the meaning of a word is its use in the language. nJ. R. Firth “We shall know a word by the company it keeps.” nThis view is based on the presumption that one can derive meaning from or reduce meaning to observable contexts. Two kinds of context are recognized: the situational

19、context and the linguistic context. The specific meaning of a word is determined by different factors in the two situations. Examples: “Black Air” and “black coffee” (linguistic context) The seal could not be found. (situational context) ? n4. Behaviorism nBloomfield: nBehaviorists attempted to defi

20、ne the meaning of a language form as the “situation in which the speaker utters it and the response it calls froth in the hearer.” n Jill Jack n S _ r s _ R nBloomfield argued that meaning consists in the relation between speech indicated by the small letter r . s and the practical events represente

21、d by the capitalized letters S and R that precede and follow them respectively. 5.2 Types of Meaning nG. Leech recognizes 7 types of meaning in his Semantics (1974): n1) conceptual meaning also denotative in that it is concerned with the relationship between a word and the thing it denotes, or refer

22、s to. nAssociative meaning n 2) connotative some additional, especially emotive, meaning (philosophy the properties of the entity a word denotes, eg. human) n 3) social the social circumstances of language use n 4) affective feelings and attitudes n 5) reflected through association with another sens

23、e of the same expression n 6) collocative through association with words which tend to occur in the environment of another word n7) thematic by the way in which the message is organized in terms of order and emphasis nAccording to Leech, the conceptual meaning is the most important. 5.3 Sense Relati

24、ons nSense the semantic relations between one linguistic unit and another. The sense of a word can by seen as the network of its sense relations with others. nIt denotes the relationship inside the language (intra-linguistic relations), which is different from the reference which concerns with the r

25、elation between a word and the thing it refers to. nGenerally speaking, there are three kinds of sense relations, namely, sameness relation, oppositeness relation and inclusiveness relation. n5.3.1 Synonymy: sameness relation nEnglish is rich in synonyms due to its heavy borrowings from Latin. n1) T

26、otal synonymy is rare (absolute synonyms). nThey are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects, I.e. both in grammatical and lexical meanings. They are interchangeable in every way. nE.g. scarlet-fever / scarlatina 猩红热猩红热 n composition / compounding n2) Relative synonyms: similar in de

27、notation, but embrace different shads of meaning or different degrees of a given quality. Almost all synonyms are context-dependent. For example: nDialectal synonyms lift/elevator, flat/apartment; pavement/sidewalk nSynonyms of different styles gentleman/guy; buy/purchase nSynonyms differ in connota

28、tion Im thrifty. You are economical. And he is stingy. nSynonyms differing in affective meaning attract/seduce nSynonyms differ in collocation beautiful/handsome; many/much n5.3.2 Antonymy: oppositeness relation n1) Gradable antonymy (contrary antonymy) pairs of words opposite to each other, but the

29、 denial of one is not necessarily the assertion of the other. nThere are often intermediate forms between the two members of a pair, e.g. old-young, hot-cold, tall- short, nFor example, the words hot and cold are a pair of antonyms, but not hot does not necessarily mean cold, maybe warm, mild or coo

30、l. nFeatures: nA. gradable the members of a pair differ in terms of degree. So something which is not “good” is not necessarily “bad”. It may be only “average”. n i. They can be modified by “very” n ii. They may have comparative and superlative degrees nB. graded against different norms (in comparis

31、on) nThere is no absolute criterion by which we may say something is “good” or “bad” nThe criterion varies with the object described. nC. marked and unmarked terms respectively nThe cover term is more often used. n e.g. How old are you? n2) Complementary (contradictory) antonymy They divide up the w

32、hole of a semantic field completely. The assertion of one is the denial of the other, and the denial of one is the assertion of the other nExamples are alive/dead; male/female; present/absent; innocent/guilty; odd/even; pass/fail; hit/miss nThey are mutually exclusive and admit no possibility betwee

33、n them. That is, if one of the pair is true, the other cannot be. nFeatures: nA. They cannot be modified by “very and have no comparative or superlative degrees. nHe is more dead than alive. (not comparative) nJohn is more mad than stupid. nJohn is more brave than wise. nThis difference between the

34、gradable and the complementary can be compared to the traditional logical distinction between the contrary and the contradictory. (cf. p111) nB. the norm is absolute the same norm is used for all the things it is applicable to. n e.g. male female (the norm is the same with human beings and animals)

35、nC. No cover term n exception: true/false (p. 112) n3) Converse (relational) antonymy words that denote the same relation or process from one or the other direction (They show the reversal of a relationship between two entities.): buy/sell; lend/borrow; give/receive; parent/child; husband/wife; host

36、/guest; employer/employee; teacher/student; above/below; before/after; push/pull, up/down, etc. nIt is a reciprocal social relationship that one of them cannot be used without suggesting the other. It is the same relationship seen from different angles. nMain feature: One presupposes the other. n If

37、 there is a buyer, there must also be a seller. A parent must have a child. Without a child, one cannot be a parent. nProblems: nHe is a child. (somebody under 18 - adult) nHe is a teacher. (profession) nNote: nThe comparative degrees like bigger : smaller, longer : shorter, better: worse, older: yo

38、unger also belong here, since they involve a relation between two entities. n5.3.3 Hyponymy: inclusiveness relation nHyponymy is a matter of class membership. nA. superordinate: the class name nB. hyponyms / co-hyponyms: members n flower rose violet tulip peony jasmine nC. auto-hyponym: a hyponym is

39、 a hyponym of itself (a superordinate is a superordinate to itself). n animal nBird fish insect animal n human animal n tiger elephant lion nThis kind of vertical semantic relation links words in a hierarchical work. nA superordinate may be missing sometimes. For example, in English, there is no sup

40、erordinate for the color terms and the words like beard, moustache, and whiskers. nHyponyms may also be missing. Please cf p. 114. n4) Polysemy: one word has two or more than two related meanings. nFace n a. the front of the head; n b. the expression of the countenance; n c. a surface of a thing; n

41、d. the side or surface that is marked, as of a clock, playing card, domino, etc. n e. the appearance; outward aspect; n f. CH idiom dignity; prestige; self-respect n g. the topography (of an area); etc. n5) Homonymy: different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical o

42、nly in sound or spelling. nRhetorically, homonyms are often used as puns. nThere are three kinds of homonyms: nA. perfect/full homonyms: words identical both in sound and spelling, but different in meaning, eg., bear (n., a kind of animal), bear (v., to give birth to a baby/to stand) nbank the edge

43、of the river, lake, nbank an establishment for money business nB. homographs: words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning, eg., tear (n.), tear (v.) n bow bending the head as a greeting n bow the device used for shooting arrows nC. homophones: words identical only in sound bu

44、t different in spelling and meaning n dear a loved person n deer a kind of animal n see to look at n sea the ocean n right correct n write to put down on paper with a pen n rite a ceremonial procedure 5.4 Componential Analysis n5.4.1 Word meaning nComponential analysis is the approach that analyze w

45、ord meaning by decomposing it into its atomic features. It shows the semantic features of a word. n The meaning of a word can be dissected into meaning components, called semantic features (semantic components). There are semantic units smaller than the meaning of a word. nThis is parallel to the wa

46、y a phoneme is analyzed into smaller components called distinctive features. E.g. n man = HUMAN ADULT MALE nwoman = HUMAN ADULT FEMALE nboy = HUMAN YOUNG MALE ngirl = HUMAN YOUNG FEMALE nSome semantic features such as YOUNG and ADULT can be combined as ADULT, with YOUNG represented as ADULT. nfather

47、 = PARENT (x, y) nIf Y is false, X is false. nThe truth of the second sentence necessarily follows from the truth of the first sentence, while the falsity of the first follows from the falsity of the second. nC. X is synonymous with Y n e.g. X: He was a bachelor all his life. n Y: He never married a

48、ll his life. nD. X is inconsistent with Y. n e.g. X: John is married. n Y: John is a bachelor. n If X is true, Y is false; and if X is false, Y is true. nE. X presupposes Y. (Y is a prerequisite of X.) X预设预设Y. nX: Johns bike needs repairing. nY: John has a bike. nX: The queen of England is old. nY:

49、England has a queen. nX: Sam has returned the book. nY: Sam borrowed the book. nIf X is true, Y must be true; n If X is false, Y is still true; nThese semantic relations are found within or between meaningful sentences. nThere are sentences which sound grammatical but meaningless. These sentences ar

50、e said to be semantically anomalous. For example: nColourless green ideas sleep furiously. nThe pregnant bachelor killed some phonemes. n5.4.3 Problems nA. Many words are polysemous, consequently, they will have different sets of semantic components, e.g., man. nB. Some semantic components are seen

51、as binary taxonomies. n e.g. MALE/FEMALE (absolute) n ADULT/YOUNG (relative) n antonymy complementary n contrary; converse nC. The semantic components of some words are difficult to ascertain and the use of META-LANGUAGE (a language used for talking about another language) also makes the analysis di

52、fficult. 5.5 Sentence meaning nThe meaning of a sentence is obviously related to the meanings of the words used in it. nBut the meaning of a sentence is not the sum total of the meanings of all its components. nA. difference in word order n The dog bit the man. n The man bit the dog. nB. difference

53、in thematic meaning n Ive already seen that film. n That film Ive already seen. nC. ambiguity n The son of Pharaohs daughter is the daughter of Pharaohs son. nThere are two aspects in sentence meaning: Grammaticality and semantic meaning. Sentences can either be grammatically violated, or violated i

54、n selectional restrictions (words that are supposed to go together). e.g. He gave the book me. (not grammatically well-formed) Green clouds are sleeping furiously. (violating the selectional restrictions) n5.5.1 An integrated theory n The meaning of a sentence should be viewed from both the grammati

55、cal (syntactic) structure and the word meaning. In other words, the meaning of a sentence depends on the meanings of the constituent words and the way they are combined. (COMPOSITIONALITY) nKatz and Postal: n Semantic theory n dictionary Projection rules n (combine the n grammatical semantic meaning

56、s of words n markers together) n semantic distinguishers n markers (e.g. bachelor) n integration of syntax and semantics nSelection restrictions: constraints on what lexical items can go with what others.对词对词 项间的相互搭配进行限制项间的相互搭配进行限制 n Some sentences may be grammatically well-formed; i.e. they comply

57、perfectly with the grammatical rules of the language, yet they may not be semantically meaningful. n Green clouds are sleeping furiously. n Sincerity shook hands with the black apple. nProblems: nA. The distinction between semantic marker and distinguisher is not very clear. nB. The collocation of w

58、ords sometimes cannot be accounted for by grammatical markers, semantic markers or selection restrictions. nC. The understanding of Meta-language is crucial in this analysis. nPredication analysis: Predication is the abstraction of the meaning of a sentence. A predication consists of argument(s) and

59、 predicate. nAn argument is a logical participant in a predication, and a predicate is something about an argument or the logical relation linking the arguments in a sentence. e.g. Tom smokes. Tom is smoking. Tom has been smoking. TOM (SMOKE) Tom, smoke! Does Tom smoke? Tom does not smoke. 5.6 Logical Semantics nI. Introduction nA statement can be defined as a declarative sentence, or part of a sentence, that is capable of having a truth-va